During the past decade, advancements in warehousing and logistics have been nothing short of remarkable. It seems almost impossible these days to pick up any related industry publications without reading about the latest innovations in robotics, wearable scanning technologies and same-day delivery options. Warehousing for many big-box distributors, such as Amazon and Grainger, is quickly beginning to look a lot like something we have seen on the classic futuristic cartoon “The Jetsons.” In comparison, these trends are making many small and midsize distributors feel like our warehousing operations have a closer resemblance to what we would see on “The Flintstones.” Even if our operations are not exactly Stone Age, most typical distributors in our industry should probably go ahead and swallow one simple truth: It will be highly unlikely for us to “out-warehouse” our big-box competitors.
Fortunately, small and midsize distributors have other competitive advantages that will keep customers coming back for many years to come. The mega-distributors of the world will always have difficulty competing with the personal relationships and technical expertise their smaller competitors possess in the marketplace. With this being said, warehousing improvements cannot be something that many of us can afford to overlook in the future.